A member of the UK armed forces who died in Ukraine has been named as Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Parachute Regiment.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said the 28-year-old was killed observing Ukrainian forces test "a new defensive capability, away from the front lines".

Paying tribute to the paratrooper in the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "His life was full of courage and determination.

"He served our country with honour and distinction around the world in the cause of freedom and democracy, including as part of the small number of British personnel in Ukraine."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Olympic medal-winning swimmer and campaigner Sharron Davies has been named as one of three new Conservative peers.

Ms Davies, a vocal critic of trans women in women's sport, was nominated by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.

The Tories said it was in recognition of her sporting achievements and her campaigning on women's rights.

Iceland supermarket chairman Richard Walker and former Number 10 communications director Matthew Doyle are among 25 new Labour peers nominated by Sir Keir Starmer. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey nominated five new peers.

A Labour spokesperson said the new titles would allow the government to "deliver on our mandate from the British people" and "correct" the imbalance against Labour in the House of Lords, where the Tories currently have more representation.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

Four famous duos have travelled nearly 6,000 km, hitchhiking through mountain towns, foraging in dense jungles, and battling challenges they never imagined, as contestants in Celebrity Race Across the World.

What began on the sun-soaked easternmost tip of Mexico is about to come to a close on Thursday night as the teams race toward the windswept Península de La Guajira in Colombia, the series' final checkpoint.

The budget, £950 per person - the equivalent cost of flying the route - was one limitation, but what else made the trip the challenge of a lifetime?

Molly: 'It's given me so much more confidence'

In the lead-up to the race, Tyler West and Molly Rainford had a flicker of apprehension.

While the couple knew each others' strengths and weaknesses inside out, life in the public eye often left them feeling like "passing ships in the night."

Their occasional holidays tended to have a single goal: complete relaxation.

This challenge offered something entirely different: a chance to push their relationship into new territory, and to reconnect without the usual distractions – for presenter and DJ Tyler, that meant not even his beloved Biscoff biscuits.

"It was a big question mark in our minds whether we'd even make it to the first checkpoint," Tyler admits.

"I remember looking at the final checkpoint on the map and thinking, 'How on earth are we going to get there?' But reaching this far really puts things into perspective - we're not as bad at travelling as we thought."

For actor and singer Molly, one of the biggest takeaways is a new-found confidence.

"Talking to strangers, asking people for help - those are things you just don't do anymore, but the race forces you into it," she says.

"It's given me so much more confidence that now I'm thinking, 'What have I got to lose?'"

And as for their relationship? "It proved to us we can get through anything together," she says.

Dylan: 'There's so much kindness out there'

For actor Dylan Llewellyn and his mother Jackie, the race was less about crossing the finish line first and more about getting out of their comfort zone.

After three decades of marriage, Jackie had never been away from her husband for more than a weekend. But she filled the freezer with steak-and-kidney pies and set off with her son, determined to embrace the unknown.

They learned lessons from past contestants: save more, spend less, and never - under any circumstances - let go of your moneybelt or passport.

"I can't believe we've got this far. I thought we wouldn't make it after leg one," says Jackie.

"I'm so pleased that we pushed ourselves through the lows, and I'm proud of us both for getting to the end of leg five."

The pair leaned on each other during the toughest moments but also learned the importance of asking for help.

"I don't think we realise how much kindness there is out there. And we felt it a lot," says Dylan.

"We felt so much love and togetherness with families and it was really strong and beautiful to see."

Anita: 'My dad has seen my more vulnerable side'

Before the race began, broadcaster and writer Anita Rani and her father, Bal, were excited at the idea of five uninterrupted weeks in each others' company. They hadn't travelled together since a family trip to India when Anita was just two years old.

As the oldest combined duo in the competition, they worried initially whether they would have the stamina to keep pace with younger teams.

But they know they have what matters most: determination.

"We're never going to quit," Anita insists ahead of the final.

"There's obviously been disappointment so far about the things that have been out of our control, but there's a life lesson in that, isn't there?

"When Guatemala closed down, we missed a bus, or whatever, all those things are completely out of your control, and it's very frustrating, but that's part of the journey."

For Anita and Bal, the race has become about far more than reaching the finish line.

They have treasured the time together and the chance to get to know each other better.

"Honestly, this is life, and this is what we've been through," Anita says.

"I think my dad has seen a more vulnerable side of me that I don't normally show."

Roman: 'It makes you realise there's so much more to life'

Sibling duo Roman Kemp and Harleymoon were candid about their relationship not being as close as they would like: busy careers had reduced their interactions to quick spare-key handovers and dog drop-offs.

They are also, by their own admission, polar opposites. Singer-songwriter Harleymoon is the free-spirited adventure-seeker who is usually the last to leave any party.

Broadcaster Roman, devoted to his work and his beloved Arsenal, is naturally cautious about stepping outside his comfort zone.

For them, the race was an opportunity to become friends again and help them discover new sides of each other.

Roman and Harleymoon describe their time with a family on Panama's San Blas Islands as truly transformative.

Roman says the race "took me so far from where I am from".

"It was the biggest moment for me.

"It does make you realise that there's so much more to life… You see what makes these people happy and how happy they really are, which is just this family."

For Harleymoon, the experience of having nothing besides a few bananas and a hammock "in the middle of nowhere" sparked deep self-reflection.

"Your life has turned into something so simple but so beautiful — it's an amazing window to reflect and think, wow, we have so much at home, and yet we always strive for more," she said.

"Getting to experience days like that, when you're just so full of gratitude, was really amazing."

European leaders say "intensive work" will continue in the coming days on a US-led plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war, after a joint phone call with President Donald Trump.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they "agreed that this was a critical moment - for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region".

A White House official confirmed the call took place but did not give details.

It comes the day after Trump called European leaders "weak", suggesting the US could scale back support for Ukraine.

In the wide-ranging Politico interview published on Tuesday, Trump also claimed Ukraine was "using war" to avoid holding elections, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to reply he was "ready" for them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

The three European leaders issued identical statements shortly after their call with Trump on Wednesday.

They read: "The leaders discussed the latest on the ongoing US-led peace talks, welcoming their efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, and to see an end to the killing.

"Intensive work on the peace plan is continuing and will continue in the coming days."

Earlier on Wednesday, Zelensky wrote on social media that a 20-point document on how to end the war would be handed over to the US in "the near future" after "our joint work with President Trump's team and partners in Europe".

The Ukrainian leader provided no further details.

The original US draft peace plan - widely leaked to media last month - had 28 points, and was seen as favouring Russia. Ukraine has since held separate talks with US and European negotiators, seeking to change some key clauses such as territorial issues and security guarantees.

Zelensky is under increasing pressure from Trump to agree to a peace deal to end the war, with the US president urging Kyiv to "play ball" by ceding territory to Moscow.

Zelensky has repeatedly refused to do so, seeking instead an immediate ceasefire on the vast front line and iron-clad security guarantees for Kyiv in any future settlement.

The Ukrainian leader is on a diplomatic tour of Europe following intensive talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend which failed to produce a deal to which Kyiv could agree.

Zelensky has been pressing his European allies to help deter the US from backing an agreement that could leave Ukraine exposed to future attacks by Russia.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Trump's "very important" statements on Ukraine, including saying Moscow would win the war and that Kyiv would need to hand over land, align with Russia's view.

"In many ways, on the subject of Nato membership, on the subject of territories, on the subjects of how Ukraine is losing land, it is in tune with our understanding," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Last week, Putin repeated his warning that Ukrainian troops must completely withdraw from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it, rejecting any compromise over how to end the war.

Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after maker Nestle changed their recipes.

To be described as milk chocolate in the UK a product needs to have at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, a level each product fell below once a higher amount of cheaper vegetable fat was used.

Nestle said its reformulations were needed due to higher input costs but were "carefully developed and sensory tested" and there were no plans to alter the recipes of other chocolate products.

As many ingredient costs, such as cocoa and butter, increased food companies have altered recipes to use less of the expensive ingredients, as well as shrinking serving sizes.

A spokesperson for Nestle said the food giant had seen "significant increases in the cost of cocoa over the past years, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products. We continue to be more efficient and absorb increasing costs where possible".

The change to the bars' ingredients was first reported by The Grocer.

Nestle is not alone in recent reformulations.

In October, McVitie's Penguin and Club bars switched to be labelled as as "chocolate flavour" because the amount of cocoa they contain has been reduced after parent company Pladis chose to use cheaper alternatives to the main ingredient in chocolate.

Although cocoa commodity prices have recently eased slightly, a surge in costs over the past three years, driven by poor harvests and droughts, has pushed up the cost of chocolate.

Changing ingredient proportions in food and drink manufacturing due to cost is sometimes called "skimpflation".

It has become more recent years as inflation has increased producers' costs.

Supermarkets were found in 2024 to have reduced the amount of costlier ingredients such as beef and chicken in their ready meals.

A member of the UK armed forces who died in Ukraine has been named as Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Parachute Regiment.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said the 28-year-old was killed observing Ukrainian forces test "a new defensive capability, away from the front lines".

Paying tribute to the paratrooper in the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "His life was full of courage and determination.

"He served our country with honour and distinction around the world in the cause of freedom and democracy, including as part of the small number of British personnel in Ukraine."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Iceland has joined Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands in saying it will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

All five countries have withdrawn after Israel's participation in the competition was officially confirmed last week.

"Participation of Israeli national broadcaster, KAN, in the contest has created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public," Icelandic broadcaster RÚV said in a statement.

Iceland had previously indicated it intended to skip the 2026 contest, but wanted to wait until the issue could be discussed by its board of directors on Wednesday.

Sophie Kinsella, the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels, has died aged 55, her family have announced.

The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Next week's strike by resident doctors in England may be averted after ministers offered the British Medical Association a fresh deal.

The doctors' union has agreed to put the offer to members over the coming days - if they support it, the five-day walkout starting on Wednesday 17 December could be called off.

The offer includes a rapid expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees.

But it does not include any promises of extra pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been adamant he will not negotiate on that, given resident doctors - the new name for junior doctors - have had pay rises of nearly 30% over the past three years.

The deal also includes emergency legislation being introduced so that the NHS can prioritise doctors who have studied and worked in the UK for speciality training posts that resident doctors move into in year three of their training.

This year there was intense competition for these roles with 30,000 applicants going for 10,000 posts. Some of those will have been doctors from abroad who under current rules have to be judged on the same basis as UK doctors.

The number of speciality posts will also increase by 4,000 – with the first 1,000 of those available from next year.

The BMA will now consult resident doctor members in England on whether this offer would be sufficient to call off next week's strike. A survey of members will run online, closing on Monday 15 December.

If members indicate it is enough to call off these strikes, a formal referendum of resident doctors would follow, giving members time to consider the details of the offer and whether to accept it and end the current dispute, the BMA said.

If the survey of members decides it is not enough to call off strikes, they will go ahead as planned next week.

BMA resident doctors committee chairman, Dr Jack Fletcher, said: "This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and its future.

"It should not have taken strike action, but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far.

"We have forced the government to recognise the scale of the problems and to respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation.

"However, this offer does nothing to restore pay for doctors, which remains well within the government's power to do."

Leon has announced it will close several of its restaurants and cut jobs as part of a major restructure of the High Street food chain.

The company has appointed Quantuma as administrators after Leon's original co-founder John Vincent reacquired the company last month from Asda.

The move places the future of the worst performing of its 71 stores at risk, but so far no closures have been confirmed and all stores remain open.

The company employs about 1,000 staff and Leon has not said how many workers will be affected but added it would try to find jobs in the stores that remain open in the first instance.

Mr Vincent said that after an initial review of the company, the "immediate priority" was to close "the most unprofitable restaurants".

"In many cases we have found other brands to replace us, and in others we will be asking the landlords to take the leases back and find better suited operators themselves," he said.

Leon has also developed a programme with Pret A Manger to help staff that cannot take jobs in other Leon outlets, through which affected staff can apply for jobs with the coffee chain.

The company's plan is to work with Quantuma over the coming weeks to discuss the plans with landlords and work out the options for Leon's future.

Mr Vincent said he believed the company had drifted from its core values under EG and Asda's leadership, but he was also sympathetic to the challenges they faced running the "healthier" fast food chain.

"In the last two years, Asda had bigger fish to fry, and Leon was always a business they didn't feel fitted their strategy", he said.

"If you look at the performance of Leon's peers, you will see that everyone is facing challenges – companies are reporting significant losses due to working patterns and increasingly unsustainable taxes."

Asda has previously said selling Leon back to Mr Vincent would allow it to re-focus on its core retail operations, covering everything from its supermarkets to petrol forecourts.

Asda has been contacted for comment.

Leon also blamed its current issues on internal challenges, changing work patterns driven by the Covid pandemic and tax increases – all of which have affected the broader hospitality sector.

Mr Vincent said the government needed to review the tax burden it had placed on the hospitality industry.

"Today for every pound we receive from the customer, around 36p goes to the government in tax, and about 2p ends up in the hands of the company. It's why most players are reporting big losses," he said.

Known for serving its meals in a cardboard box with brown rice and fresh herbs, Leon has said its mission is to prove that its possible to serve fast food that "tastes good but does you good too" .

It opened its first branch in London in 2004, and at the time stood out against the fried chicken, burger and chips menus of its rival fast food chains.

Leon's administration process comes after Pizza Hut's UK operator DC London Pie announced it was closing 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites in October, making more than 1,200 workers redundant.

Administrators said DC London Pie had been hit by a combination of "challenging trading conditions and increased costs", including "tax-related obligations".

Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after maker Nestle changed their recipes.

To be described as milk chocolate in the UK a product needs to have at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, a level each product fell below once a higher amount of cheaper vegetable fat was used.

Nestle said its reformulations were needed due to higher input costs but were "carefully developed and sensory tested" and there were no plans to alter the recipes of other chocolate products.

As many ingredient costs, such as cocoa and butter, increased food companies have altered recipes to use less of the expensive ingredients, as well as shrinking serving sizes.

A spokesperson for Nestle said the food giant had seen "significant increases in the cost of cocoa over the past years, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products. We continue to be more efficient and absorb increasing costs where possible".

The change to the bars' ingredients was first reported by The Grocer.

Nestle is not alone in recent reformulations.

In October, McVitie's Penguin and Club bars switched to be labelled as as "chocolate flavour" because the amount of cocoa they contain has been reduced after parent company Pladis chose to use cheaper alternatives to the main ingredient in chocolate.

Although cocoa commodity prices have recently eased slightly, a surge in costs over the past three years, driven by poor harvests and droughts, has pushed up the cost of chocolate.

Changing ingredient proportions in food and drink manufacturing due to cost is sometimes called "skimpflation".

It has become more recent years as inflation has increased producers' costs.

Supermarkets were found in 2024 to have reduced the amount of costlier ingredients such as beef and chicken in their ready meals.

Sophie Kinsella, the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels, has died aged 55, her family have announced.

The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged the prime minister to stand up to Donald Trump, describing the US president's new national security strategy as "deeply alarming".

The document, which was published last week, warns Europe faces "civilisational erasure" and says US policy should prioritise "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory".

Sir Ed called on the PM to "make it clear to President Trump that any attempts to interfere with our democracy are totally unacceptable".

In response, Sir Keir Starmer avoided criticising the US President, instead saying he would always stand up for Europe's "longstanding values of freedom and democracy".

The US strategy calls for an end to mass migration and criticises European policies on the issue for "creating strife".

It also raises concerns about "censorship of free speech" and "loss of national identities and self-confidence".

"It is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies," the document states.

Trump continued to attack European leaders in an interview with Politico on Tuesday, when he branded them "weak" and said they had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end the war in Ukraine.

The strategy also adopts softer language towards Russia, blaming the EU for blocking US efforts to end the conflict and saying the US must "re-establish strategic stability with Russia".

The Kremlin has welcomed the document, calling it "largely consistent" with Moscow's vision.

Raising the US strategy during Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Ed told the House of Commons: "Quite apart from the irony of President Trump accusing others of trampling on basic principles of democracy, it repeats far-right tropes of civilisational erasure and threatens that the US government will cultivate resistance in Europe.

"No wonder Vladimir Putin has welcomed that strategy. So will the prime minister pick up the phone and make it clear to President Trump that any attempts to interfere with our democracy are totally unacceptable?"

Sir Keir replied: "On the question of Europe and President Trump's comments, what I see is a strong Europe, united behind Ukraine and united behind our longstanding values of freedom and democracy.

"And I will always stand up for those values and those freedoms."

Sir Ed hit back: "I didn't hear about standing up to President Trump."

The PM has sought to build a close relationship with Trump and the government has pointed to a deal on trade as among the positive results of this.

Meanwhile, Downing Street has defended the Labour mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, after he was branded a "disaster" and "incompetent" by Trump.

The US president's latest remarks in his long-running feud with the London mayor came during his Politico interview, where he also claimed Sir Sadiq was elected "because so many people have come in".

On Wednesday, the prime minister's press secretary told reporters Trump's comments were "wrong".

She said the mayor was "doing an excellent job in London", adding: "The prime minister is hugely proud of the mayor of London's record and proud to call him a colleague and a friend."

It comes after Downing Street was forced to deny it was failing to stand up for Sir Sadiq on Tuesday, when a No 10 spokesman declined to criticise the president's attack on the mayor.

Instead the spokesman had said: "The prime minister has a strong relationship with the US president and a strong relationship with the Mayor of London and on both is committed to working together to deliver stronger outcomes for the British people right across the country."

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

A couple who had a brief encounter on a late-night train have got engaged on the same service one year later.

Steve Higgs, 56, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, set up the surprise proposal to Payal Pandya, from Harrow, London, after a train company got on board with the plans.

He said he first met Ms Pandya, 49, on the 23:09 London Northwestern Railway (LNR) service from Euston towards Milton Keynes in November 2024.

To mark their anniversary the couple boarded the same service and Mr Higgs got down on one knee to ask Ms Pandya to marry him - and wedding plans are now moving full steam ahead.

Mr Higgs contacted LNR to plan the moment to ensure that nothing derailed it.

When the couple were on the train home from a night out in the capital, the conductor made a special announcement hinting at the forthcoming proposal, which gave Mr Higgs the cue to get down on one knee.

Mr Higgs said: "I first met Payal when I offered her my seat after I'd been out for a few drinks with friends.

"I'm always up for chatting with people when I'm travelling and so I struck up a conversation.

"I remember she mentioned she'd just been on a first date where – luckily for me - sparks had failed to fly.

"Although we were only speaking for 20 minutes or so, I knew I wanted to see her again."

Ms Pandya said by the time she had got off the train last year, her fiancé had found her dating profile and sent her a message.

"We set up our first date not too long after and the rest is history," she said.

"We always joke that the 23:09 LNR service marks our 'encounter-versary' – the moment we first met.

"I can't believe Steve asked me to marry him on that same service and managed to get the conductor involved without me knowing!"

The couple said they hope to get married next year.

Jonny Wiseman, LNR's customer experience director, said: "When Steve got in touch with our customer relations team, we knew we had to help with his request for a special announcement.

"Their story is a brilliant example of the way the railway can connect people, not just to where they need to go, but to the people they're travelling with too."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

A member of the UK armed forces who died in Ukraine has been named as Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Parachute Regiment.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said the 28-year-old was killed observing Ukrainian forces test "a new defensive capability, away from the front lines".

Paying tribute to the paratrooper in the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "His life was full of courage and determination.

"He served our country with honour and distinction around the world in the cause of freedom and democracy, including as part of the small number of British personnel in Ukraine."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

A man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend's sister and her three children in a house fire in Bradford.

Sharaz Ali killed Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children Denisty, nine, Oscar, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle, after deliberately setting fire to their home in a revenge attack when Bryonie's sister, Antonia, ended their relationship.

The 40-year-old was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Antonia Gawith, following a trial at Doncaster Crown Court.

Co-accused Calum Sunderland, 26, was cleared of murder and attempted murder but found guilty of four counts of manslaughter for his role in breaking into the family's house where Antonia had been staying.

The trial heard Ali "motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs" and Sunderland had arrived at Bryonie's home in Westbury Road, Bradford, in the early hours of 21 August 2024.

Prosecutors said Ali then ordered Sunderland to kick down the door before he went inside and poured petrol around the property.

In her evidence, Antonia told jurors she had confronted Ali on the ground floor of the property.

During a scuffle he poured petrol over her before she managed to run into the garden in the hope he would follow her out of the house.

The court heard he tried to get upstairs but was confronted by Bryonie and forced back down where he took a lighter from his pocket and set the house alight.

Bryonie and her three children, who were asleep upstairs, were unable to escape.

Sophie Kinsella, the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels, has died aged 55, her family have announced.

The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government's department of vice and virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the TV series Peaky Blinders.

The friends were told that their clothing was "in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values", a Taliban spokesman told the BBC, adding the values in Peaky Blinders went against Afghan culture.

In videos posted online, the men, who have been released, can be seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the series set in England soon after World War One.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, they have imposed a number of restrictions on daily life in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

"Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture," Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government's provincial department of Vice and Virtue in Herat city told the BBC.

The men, all in their early twenties, come from the town of Jibrail in Herat province. They were ordered to report to the Taliban's "morality police" on Sunday, and presented themselves for questioning in Herat the following day.

"They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat," Khyber wrote on social media, adding that they had undergone a "rehabilitation programme".

The were not formally arrested, "only summoned and advised and released", Khyber told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles," he said.

"The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters."

The men could be seen thanking officials for their advice and saying they were unaware they had violated any laws in a video released by the ministry after they were questioned - though it is unclear under what circumstances the interview was recorded.

"I have innocently been sharing content that was against Sharia which had many viewers," one said in the recording.

He said he had been "summoned and advised", and would no longer do "anything like this".

In an interview with YouTube channel Herat-Mic uploaded at the end of November, before they were summoned, the friends said they admired the fashion displayed in the series, adding that they had received positive reactions from locals.

"At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us," one of the men said, according to a translation by CBS News.

María Corina Machado, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is "safe" and will come to Oslo, but will not be able to make the awards ceremony scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute has said.

The Nobel Institute awarded the Venezuelan opposition leader the prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in her home country.

There has been much speculation about whether Machado, who has been living in hiding, would be able to defy a travel ban to attend the ceremony in Norway's capital.

Organisers said her daughter would accept the award in her stead.

In an audio recording shared by the Nobel Institute, Machado said "I will be in Oslo, I am on my way."

However, the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said that Machado was expected to arrive "sometime between this evening and tomorrow morning" - too late for the ceremony.

In her mother's absence, Ana Corina Sosa is expected to give the speech Machado had prepared.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute had said they were in the dark about Machado's whereabouts, triggering concern among her supporters.

Two of her children and her mother are in Oslo, hoping to be reunited with Machado after being separated for more than a year.

Machado went into hiding shortly after Venezuela's disputed presidential election in July 2024.

The last time she was seen in public was on 9 January when she spoke to her supporters at a rally protesting against the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro to a third term as president.

The elections were widely dismissed both by the opposition in Venezuela and on the international stage as rigged, and sparked protests across the country.

Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of Machado's opposition coalition.

Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest.

She continued to give interviews and uploaded videos onto social media urging her followers not to give up.

The announcement that she had been chosen as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner galvanised her supporters and triggered immediate speculation as to whether she would be able to travel to Oslo.

Total secrecy has surrounded her travel plans and it is not know how she managed to leave her place of hiding or by what means she has reached Europe.

Two US fighter jets were tracked circling the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.

The F/A-18 Super Hornets appeared on flight tracking sites near Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city, at around 13:00 (17:00 GMT), before circling the gulf for about 40 minutes.

A US defence official told the Associated Press the F/A-18 jets had conducted a "routine training flight" in the area.

The incident comes amid a wave of US strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the White House said were trafficking drugs to the US from Venezuela. Experts have raised questions over the legality of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of using the strikes to destabilise the country and oust him from power.

In an interview conducted with Politico the day before the jets approached Venezuela's coastline, Trump declared that Maduro's days in power were "numbered", and declined to comment on whether US troops could be deployed to the country.

A separate jet, an EA-18G Growler, also appeared just before the F/A-18s on the tracking site FlightRadar24. Data shows the jet flew loops just north of Venezuela's coast.

They are the latest in a number of unusual US air force activities that have been tracked since September. B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers previously flew up to and along the Venezuelan coast.

But the F/A-18s, which are capable of engaging targets both on the ground and in the air, appear to be the first to approach the Venezuelan coastline so publicly in recent months. The F/A-18s came within 20 nautical miles of the coastline, flight tracking data showed.

Neither the F/A-18s or the Growler showed a point of origin or a destination on FlightRadar24, and all three aircraft only turned on their transponders when they arrived near the Venezuelan coastline. Justin Crump, head of the risk consultancy Sibylline, suggested the move was intended to "support the administration's signalling and put pressure on the [Venezuelan] leadership".

The F/A-18s - which operated under the callsigns RHINO11 and RHINO12 - flew six loops up and down the Gulf of Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Growler jet - flying under the codename GRIZZLY2 - also flew circles along the coast.

Greg Bagwell, a former RAF air marshall and president of the Air and Space Power Association, told BBC Verify that the flights appeared to be "probing" Venezuelan defence and trying to check for responses such as radio traffic and encrypted signals related to defence systems.

"The Growlers would have been listening for [signals intelligence], whilst the Super Hornets would have been providing air defence cover for the Growlers," Baswell said. He said the Growlers would also detect "active missile sites".

"It could be construed as the early gathering of intelligence for subsequent operations, or just a warning of such," he added.

Crump said the jets also had the capacity to test out "jamming capabilities", adding: "This also helps send a message, when successful, potentially indicating to Venezuela's leadership that these systems cannot or should not be relied upon," he said.

The US has deployed troops, ships and jets to the Caribbean in recent months, which officials have said is to combat drug trafficking in the area.

On Tuesday the US Southern Command published photos of an F/A-18 operating from the USS Gerald Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, which has been sent to the Caribbean.

Analysis of satellite images and ship tracking websites by BBC Verify has made it possible to identify at least nine military vessels that have been deployed to the region over recent weeks.

Satellite images also show that an airbase in Puerto Rico, which was closed in 2004 by the Pentagon, has been re-activated. Repairs have been carried out to the runway at Roosevelt Roads base and F-35s - America's most advanced fighter - have been sent to the base.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

I'm more mature now - Kyrgios

More on this story

• Live scores, results and order of play

  

• Get tennis news sent straight to your phone

  Published
  16 August

  

Tourists from dozens of countries including the UK could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the United States, under a new proposal unveiled by American officials.

The new condition would affect people from dozens of countries who are eligible to visit the US for 90 days without a visa, as long as they have filled out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has moved to toughen US borders more generally - citing national security as a key reason.

Analysts say the new plan could pose an obstacle to potential visitors, or harm their digital rights.

The US expects a major influx of foreign tourists next year, as it hosts the men's football World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, and for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The proposal document was filed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which the agency is part.

US media reported that it appeared in the Federal Register, which is the official journal of the US government. The BBC has asked DHS for comment.

It says "the data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years", without giving further details of which specific information will be required.

The existing ESTA requires a comparatively limited amount of information from travellers, as well as a one-off payment of $40 (£30). It is accessible to citizens of about 40 countries - including the UK, Ireland, France, Australia and Japan - and allows them to visit the US multiple times during a two-year period.

As well as the collection of social media information, the new document proposes the gathering of an applicant's telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years respectively, and more information about their family members.

The text cites an executive order from Trump in January, titled "Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats".

The Trump administration has previously required foreign nationals to make their social media accounts public if they are applying for student visas or H1B visas for skilled workers - the latter of which now also entail a much higher fee.

A senior state department official said of the student visa policy: "It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day."

Officers were instructed to screen for those "who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence".

As part of the administration's broader effort to toughen borders, officials recently said an existing travel ban - affecting 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean - could soon be expanded.

That move was announced in the wake of a shooting attack on two National Guard members in Washington DC, in which an Afghan man has been named as the suspect.

The new proposal regarding ESTA data collection for tourists invites views from the public for 60 days.

Sophia Cope, of digital rights organisation the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticised the plan, telling the New York Times that it could "exacerbate civil liberties harms".

Meanwhile, immigration law practice Fragomen suggested there could be practical impacts as applicants could face longer waits for ESTA approvals.

Experts have previously suggested that the changes to travel policies introduced under Trump have had an impact on the American tourism industry.

Earlier this year, the World Travel & Tourism Council said the US was the only one of 184 economies that it analysed that was expected to see a decline in international visitor spending in 2025.

Other Trump administration policies have also appeared to impact tourism to the country, such as many Canadians boycotting US travel as a form of protest against Trump's tariffs.

October marked the 10th straight month of decline in the number of Canadian travellers to the US. In the past, Canadians have made up about a quarter of all international visitors to the US, spending more than $20bn (£15.1bn) a year, according to the US Travel Association.

Fans of codebreaking, maths and brainteasers can now try their hand at the latest cryptic Christmas challenge set by GCHQ, the UK's intelligence agency.

GCHQ released their annual Christmas card on Wednesday, filled with puzzles and hidden codes designed to help children aged 11-18 test a range of problem-solving skills.

The card was created by "schoolchildren as well as spies", according to GCHQ, after hundreds of young people entered a design competition in the lead-up to the festive period.

It contains seven puzzles set by "GCHQ's in-house puzzlers", geared towards testing a range of problem-solving skills, including "intuitive reasoning" and "lateral thinking".

The quiz starts with Question 1:

Somewhere on the card is a special seven letter word which has no repeated letters, and no letters which are next to each other in the alphabet. Can you find it? * Answer at the bottom of the page

Students were asked to draw their response to the question: "What do you think GCHQ looks like on Christmas Day?". They were challenged to embed hidden codes, and ciphers into their designs.

Three winners were selected by a panel of judges across three age groups.

The famously tricky puzzles "aren't meant to be solved alone", GCHQ said, adding: "We believe the right mix of minds means we can solve seemingly impossible problems."

"Puzzles are at the heart of GCHQ's work to keep the country safe from hostile states, terrorists and criminals; challenging our teams to think creatively and analytically every day", said GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler.

She said she hoped the puzzle encourages the next generation "to explore STEM subjects and consider the rewarding careers available in cybersecurity and intelligence".

Meanwhile, the spy agency's "Chief Puzzler", known only as "Colin", said the puzzles are designed to test "the same blend of skills our teams use every day to keep the country safe."

* The answer is: Special (the clue is written into the text)

The daughter of the man believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England (CofE) says finally learning the truth about his attacks on 130 boys was shocking and horrifying.

Fiona Rugg, 47, is the youngest daughter of barrister and Christian charity chairman John Smyth QC, who died before he was ever brought to justice.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Smyth subjected about 130 boys and young men to extreme physical and sexual abuse under the guise of spiritual discipline.

In the years since, Ms Rugg, who now lives in Bristol, has slowly come to terms with the disturbing truth but has often grappled with feelings of "shame by association".

"I can rationally understand that I'm in no way to blame, but you feel guilty that my father could do this to someone, and of course, he was unrepentant," she said.

"So much of my dad's story and how he got away was cover-up and deception, but I want to fly in the face of that and bring things into the light."

The Makin Review, published in 2024, found the church's handling of the allegations against Smyth amounted to a cover-up, with one cleric admitting: "I thought it would do the work of God immense damage if this were public."

Speaking openly to the BBC for the first time, Ms Rugg said learning the truth about the extent of her father's "shocking" abuse has helped her to heal.

"I have forgiven him, but it doesn't take away the pain or make it OK. I don't feel in the grip of it or feel so ashamed, but it doesn't diminish the horror of what he did," she said.

"There was nothing in his camp coming from him about being sorry. I'm sorry on behalf of my father for what he's done to these boys."

Warning - this story contains distressing content and references to child abuse

Ms Rugg recalls an oppressive childhood plagued by "hypervigilance" of her father's unpredictable moods.

"I think the overriding feeling is actually fear, as long as I can remember," she recalled.

"I felt afraid around dad, who was very volatile.

"He was very angry, and so there was a sense of fragile moods, walking on eggshells, wondering what dad's mood was like. A feeling of guilt as a young child I didn't like dad and sometimes I hated him."

Ms Rugg said her father "completely disregarded" her as a child, to the extent she questioned her own judgement of his "volatile" character.

"What I saw was confusing to me," she said. "He was so frightening, so angry and unkind, so hard to stand up to. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, but what I saw was people who adored him."

While Smyth laughed and played outside with boys and young men in the sun, she would watch from the window, having been told to stay away as an "unwanted distraction".

"We were experiencing a completely different John Smyth to the reputation he presented to the world," she explained.

"The natural conclusion you draw when you are young is 'he must be right and I must be the problem. I'm the one who is not seeing this correctly here'."

Smyth gained access to Winchester College in 1973 through the school's Christian union and began abusing pupils after inviting them to his family home for Sunday lunch.

He forced his victims to strip naked and endure violent canings in a soundproofed shed at his family home, where he beat them so badly they bled.

Smyth, an evangelical Christian, would frame the abuse as a form of punishment and repentance for "sins" such as pride or masturbation.

An internal review by the Iwerne Trust uncovered the scandal in 1982, describing the attacks as "prolific, brutal and horrific", detailing how eight of the boys had suffered a total of 14,000 lashes.

But rather than alerting authorities, senior evangelical figures in the CoE facilitated Smyth's silent departure from the UK, allowing him to evade justice for decades.

When their family were ushered to Zimbabwe in 1984, Ms Rugg said it was framed by her father as "noble work", sacrificing his "glittering career" to become a missionary.

But his wake of destruction followed them across the globe, and he soon opened Christian camps where he would enforce nudity and beat young boys.

The following year, tragedy unfolded when a 16-year-old boy named Guide Nyachuru was found dead at one of Smyth's camps within 12 hours of arrival, resulting in a manslaughter charge, but the case collapsed.

When Ms Rugg moved back to England aged 18, she started to have more and more questions about her father.

"It would come up that I'm dad's daughter and I would see a shadow pass across someone's face," she recalled.

"People didn't react like 'oh what a great guy', it was the opposite of that. It was a stony silence. There seemed to be so little connection with the UK, which struck me as odd."

She confronted her father with the rumours on Christmas Eve, and he burst into a blind rage, accusing her of being "disloyal" to their family by daring to question his integrity.

"His reaction was so powerfully extreme, I remember thinking 'well now I know for sure'. There's never that much smoke without a fire," she said.

Reports of Smyth's abuse were first made public through an investigation by Channel 4 in February 2017.

Ms Smyth switched on the news one evening to see her father's face staring back at her, his name plastered across the screen against a backdrop of horrendous crimes.

"These were people's young, vulnerable sons whose lives were ruined. I have a son," she added.

"As cruel as I'd seen him to be, I had no idea he had committed this extensive criminal abuse. It was horrifying and so shocking, but it made sense.

"His whole life was about doing 'the Lord's work'. Everything was backed up with his Christian faith, and I found the hypocrisy of that really abhorrent."

In August 2018, Smyth received a summons from Hampshire Police to return to England for questioning, under the threat of extradition.

He died from heart failure just eight days later at the age of 77, and was never brought to justice for the trauma he inflicted upon young boys in his care.

Ms Rugg said she can now speak about her father "without bitterness or hatred" and finally feels at peace.

"In my experience, if you face what dad's done you can heal from it and you can forgive it," she explained.

"There are moments of upset but I no longer feel that knot when I think about my dad, and that is progress. It's not mine to carry and not mine to be controlled by.

"It's changed from something that was imposed on me, to 'I'm choosing what I do with that'."

• If you would like to learn more about John Smyth's history of abuse, head to Channel 4's two-part documentary titled See No Evil.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Nnena Kalu has won this year's Turner Prize, the UK's most high-profile art award, for her "bold and compelling" sculptures and drawings - and has made history as the first artist with a learning disability to win.

The judges praised Kalu's brightly-coloured sculptures - which are haphazardly wrapped in layers of ribbon, string, card and shiny VHS tape - and her drawings of swirling, tornado-like shapes.

Kalu, 59, is an autistic, learning disabled artist with limited verbal communication.

Charlotte Hollinshead, who has worked with her for 25 years, said on stage at the ceremony: "This is a major, major moment for a lot of people. It's seismic. It's broken a very stubborn glass ceiling."

'Idol, legend, winner'

In a moving speech delivered alongside Kalu, she said: "This amazing lady has worked so hard for such a long time.

"It's wonderful she's finally getting the recognition she rightly, rightly deserves."

Glasgow-born, London-based Kalu was announced as the winner of the award - and its £25,000 prize money - at a ceremony in Bradford, the UK's current city of culture, on Tuesday.

She accepted the honour while wearing a rosette bearing her photo and the words: "Idol, legend, winner, whatever."

Kalu has been gradually gaining recognition in the art world in recent years after working as a resident artist with Action Space, which supports artists with learning disabilities, since 1999.

Ms Hollinshead, her studio manager and artistic facilitator, said: "We are so happy that Nnena's talent and beautiful work is now out in the world for you all to see this complex artist who creates gorgeous, complex forms - all while listening to disco music, often as loud as possible.

"Nnena's career reflects the long, often very frustrating journey we've been on together... to challenge people's preconceptions about differently abled artists, but especially learning disabled artists, an important creative community so undervalued.

"When Nnena first began working with Action Space in 1999, the art world was not interested.

"Her work wasn't respected, not seen, and certainly wasn't regarded as cool.

"Nnena has faced an incredible amount of discrimination, which continues to this day, so hopefully this award smashes that prejudice away.

"Nnena Kalu, you've made history!"

'Beautiful intricacy'

Kalu's work has divided opinion among art critics, but the Turner Prize judges were impressed by the "really compelling sculptures and drawings that could only be made by Nnena", according to the jury chairman, Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson.

Her drawings, which come in sets of two or three near-identical shapes, have "a beautiful intricacy to them" and "look like swirling vortexes", he said.

Her sculptures, meanwhile, are hanging shapes covered in reams of re-purposed materials including fabric, rope, parcel tape, cling film and paper.

They resemble three-dimensional versions of abstract expressionist paintings, Mr Farquharson said.

"But they're not paintings, they're not flat on the wall. They're suspended in the space that you're in, like brightly coloured rocks or creatures.

"They're at almost your eye level. Although there are no figurative features at all, they appear to be communing among themselves and with you.

"The use of materials is highly unusual, including video tape that gets wrapped round and round.

"The colours and the lines the materials make are very like brush marks translated into three dimensions. They're very gestural, they're very expressive, they're very compelling."

'Quality and uniqueness'

The judges deliberated for two or three hours, Mr Farquharson said, and stressed that their choice of winner was based purely on merit.

"The result wasn't about wanting, first and foremost, to give the prize to Nnena as the first neurodiverse artist. That wasn't a driving factor," he said.

"It was an interest in, and a real belief in, the quality and uniqueness of her practice, which is inseparable from who she is."

It is a historic moment, though, he told BBC News.

"It breaks down walls between, if you like, neurotypical and neurodiverse artists. It becomes really about the power and quality of the work itself, whatever the artist's identity is.

"So maybe what's historic about it is it's one more move to include really great neurodiverse artists in the picture we present of art today."

The result was announced at a ceremony at Bradford Grammar School, the former school of artist David Hockney.

Works by all four shortlisted artists are currently on show at the Turner Prize exhibition at the nearby Cartwright Hall gallery, which will run until 22 February 2026.

The other nominees were Rene Matić, Zadie Xa and Mohammed Sami, who will receive £10,000 each.

The Turner Prize has been the UK's most coveted and controversial art award since it was founded in 1984. Past winners include Lubaina Himid, Jeremy Deller, Grayson Perry, Steve McQueen and Damien Hirst.

Bold new era of rules

Brit teenager Lindblad makes debut

Cadillac joins the grid

Sauber become Audi

Ford return and Renault engines fall silent

Madrid replaces Imola on calendar

More on this story

• Hamilton's struggles and ranking Verstappen's 2025 - Q&A

  Published
  22 hours ago

  

• Norris keen to 'live a normal few days' and 'forget I drive in F1'

  Published
  1 day ago

  

• Backed by his family, propelled by his talent - the rise of Norris

  Published
  2 days ago

  

Madeleine McCann's father is calling for greater scrutiny of the UK's media, complaining that his family was subjected to "monstering" by sections of the press.

He said the media "repeatedly interfered with the investigation" into his daughter's disappearance in 2007 and believes this has hindered the search for her.

Gerry McCann told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that more than a year on from Labour coming into power, "press regulation is no longer a priority".

He wants a resumption of the cancelled second phase of the Lord Leveson Inquiry, which would have examined unlawful action by the media, plus journalists' relationships with politicians and police. It was scrapped by the Tories in 2018.

Madeleine's disappearance during a family holiday in Portugal has never been solved.

In a rare interview, Mr McCann said that for months after her disappearance his family had "journalists coming to the house, photographers literally ramming their cameras against our car window when we had two-year-old twins in the back who were terrified".

"We are lucky we survived. We had tremendous support - but I can promise you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning. And it was the media, primarily," he told the BBC.

"It was what was happening and the way things were being portrayed, where you were being suffocated and buried, and it felt like there wasn't a way out."

Mr McCann and his wife, Kate McCann, are among more than 30 people to have signed a letter being sent to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and calling on him to reverse the decision not to hold the second phase of the Leveson Inquiry.

Among the other signatories are the families of Hillsborough victims, and the mother of TV presenter Caroline Flack.

The letter, seen by the BBC, requests a meeting with the prime minister, saying: "We understand that you recently had time to meet News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch.

"We hope you will now meet with some of the British citizens whose lives have been upended by the illegal practices and abuses associated with his company."

Mr McCann told the Today programme: "It's quite obvious that press barons can meet the prime minister, but the people who have suffered at the hands of them can't."

News UK, the UK branch of News Corp, declined to comment.

The first part of the Leveson Inquiry was held from 2011 to 2012, in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

Its findings were published in 2012, and led to the creation of the industry-funded press regulator Ipso.

Mr McCann told the BBC that the inquiry's second phase had "almost certainly" not happened because he believes that politicians in the UK are fearful of the press.

He said that in the run-up to last year's general election, Labour politicians had committed to implementing the recommendations made in the first part of the Leveson Inquiry, and that he was "extremely disappointed" that they hadn't done so.

"We're over a year into the government, and there haven't been any changes," he said.

"It's not acceptable to me now, more than a year on, that Leveson and press regulation is no longer a priority."

A DCMS spokesperson told the BBC it "recognises that for victims and their families, incidents of harassment and intrusion from the media cause significant distress".

"The Culture Secretary has met with individuals and families who have experienced this intrusion in the past and the government is committed to ensuring that these failings are never repeated," they said.

'We put our morals aside'

Mr McCann added that he and his wife had "supped with the Devil" by working with the Sun in 2011, in order to have the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance reviewed - illustrating the newspaper's influence.

"There was a front page letter published in The Sun, and [then-prime minister] David Cameron ordered the review," he said.

"That's the power they had. So we put our morals aside to work with them to achieve what we wanted."

Criticising media coverage of the investigation, he said: "Published material which should have been confidential, should be passed on to the police, witness statements, many other things that have gone out," he said.

"So if you were the perpetrator, you knew a lot more than you should have done - and as a victim, as a parent, it's absolutely dismaying."

'Making stories up'

Mr McCann gave a witness statement at the Leveson Inquiry on behalf of himself and his wife in November 2011.

In it, he described news outlets "making stories up" about them, as well as a "sustained, inaccurate and malicious series of headlines in a number of papers which gave the impression that we were in some way responsible for or involved in Madeleine's disappearance".

He also said around the time their daughter disappeared, the now-closed News of the World newspaper had published complete transcripts from Kate McCann's personal diary.

That diary had been seized by police in Portugal as part of their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, and the couple were "unsure as to how the [News of the World] obtained a copy", the inquiry heard.

In his interview with the Today programme, Mr McCann said: "Madeleine's been missing for 18 years, and the bottom line is, we still don't know what's happened to her."

He added that there is "no evidence".

"I don't even mean 'convincing' evidence - there is no evidence to say she's dead," he said.

"Now we fully understand she may be dead, it may even be probable, but we don't know that."

A spokesperson for press regulator Ipso told the BBC that it can intervene directly in cases of press harassment.

"We encourage anyone with concerns about press behaviour to contact us for help," it said.

"Would I catch a bus? No, not out of choice now," says Andy Collett. "I feel much happier using my own car."

His sentiment isn't unusual among passengers. But Mr Collett is a bus driver.

"It can be very intimidating," he says. "I've been assaulted twice, spat at numerous times, and I've had incidents of broken windows – it's just part and parcel of the job, unfortunately."

He describes a "lawlessness" among some of the travelling public - mostly younger people - which he believes has got worse in 38 years of driving Birmingham's bus routes.

The BBC has spoken to passengers, transport staff and other bus drivers in the West Midlands about what they say is a growing national trend of antisocial behaviour on public transport.

The British Transport Police recorded 40,034 incidents of antisocial behaviour in 2024-25, an increase of 24% on the previous year.

Buses are the most commonly used form of public transport but they're also where passengers feel least safe, according to a recent Transport for the North survey.

One incident gives Mr Collett flashbacks.

"I was attacked by about 30 schoolkids," he says. "I had cuts, bruises. They actually bent the fingers back on my hand when I was trying to hold [the door] to stop them getting on the vehicle."

Mr Collett now mostly trains other drivers, warning them of the dangers. When he does get shifts behind the wheel, he tries to avoid routes known for antisocial behaviour.

Antisocial behaviour hotspot Chelmsley Wood in the West Midlands is a snapshot of this national problem. Its interchange has suffered vandalism and graffiti, while drivers have been threatened and buses damaged.

Security camera footage shows masked teenagers aiming barrages of fireworks at buses over Halloween and Bonfire Night.

Passenger Emma Banks, 52, says she has witnessed a similar incident.

"They [were] hitting the bus. I've got learning difficulties and sometimes it does scare you," she tells me on a cold evening, waiting in the interchange.

Ms Banks says she regularly sees overcrowding and people smoking on buses.

She can't drive so relies on public transport but, tonight, Ms Banks doesn't feel confident enough to catch the bus.

"I'll be getting a taxi because I know that I'll get home safely."

A Public Space Protection Order has been imposed at Chelmsley Wood to stop gatherings of young people and to require the removal of masks and hoods. But 17-year-old Elle Furlong says she's still afraid.

"They smash windows, purposely pull the fire alarm, light their lighters on the chairs. It's just horrendous."

The probability of becoming a victim of crime on public transport is very low - Transport for West Midlands estimates one crime for every 50,000 bus journeys. But perceptions can outweigh statistics and drive people like Ms Furlong away.

"If I can walk it, I'll walk it. If it's far enough, I'll get an Uber. If it's really far, I'll get my dad to drop me off. I avoid buses at all costs," Ms Furlong says.

The drivers have no choice but to carry on with their jobs, although many are afraid to speak openly about the risks. Even trade union officials have refused to go on the record.

"You come to work not knowing what you're going to face," says a driver who asks to remain anonymous. "It can cause a lot of anxiety and stress. I go home sometimes and just want to break down and cry because it's a horrible job."

They describe the daily grind of disrespectful teenagers, aggressive drug addicts, even passengers defecating on the bus. Then there's the racial abuse.

"You have to hold back. I've known a few drivers who have kicked off, but then they've lost their job because of it."

I saw for myself what drivers and passengers are facing when I sat on the top deck of the 94 from Chelmsley Wood, shortly after the school bell. A group of kids soon boarded without paying.

"I've been driving buses for 33 years and it's changed," driver Neil Evans says through the screen protecting his cab. "Society has changed. No one cares anymore. They just walk onto the bus and do what they want, when they want, how they want, and nothing's done about it."

Today, Mr Evans has backup. Esha Sheemar is one of 13 Transport Safety Officers (TSOs) patrolling the West Midlands. She warns the kids if they don't behave they'll be thrown off the bus.

TSO roles were introduced in 2019. They are not police officers, but they have limited powers to tackle issues on public transport.

Across the bus station, Ms Sheemar's colleague Lee Clarke has spotted a face from their most-wanted list: a 13-year-old accused of vandalising a bus shelter. The boy's details are taken but he is allowed to get on the bus, as Mr Clarke's limited powers mean he'll need to pass the case to police officers.

TSOs are funded by the Combined Authority and belong to the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership, which includes West Midlands Police, British Transport Police, as well as bus and train companies.

At its control room in the city centre, hundreds of screens flicker with security camera images from stations and interchanges across the region's roads and rail lines; they can even get live pictures from most of the buses.

Kerry Blakeman is head of security for the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership and says they have access to more than 5,000 fixed cameras. He says his staff capture about 30 incidents each day, although he is keen to stress millions of journeys are safe and uneventful.

"We are trying to do our best to keep the travelling public safe. Behind each camera is an operator looking out for your safety whilst you travel around the bus, train and tram network."

Last summer, a teenager was filmed threatening people at Chelmsley Wood bus station with a machete. He was identified and sentenced to six months in juvenile custody.

The footage of the firework attacks has been handed over to West Midlands Police - and efforts to trace the hooded youths are ongoing.

Bus driver Bryan Cook recently called police after being threatened with a weapon while working. It was one of four times in the past three months that he's phoned for assistance while driving the 72 bus to Chelmsley Wood.

On this chilly evening, he takes his chance to tell the TSOs how their timetable fails to match that of the vandals. "Where are you on the weekends? Where are you on school holidays?" he asks.

TSO Mr Clarke starts to reply, but the driver has more to say.

"We're the ones getting threatened, we're the ones getting stuff thrown at us, broken windows. Where are you lot?"

Mr Clarke emphasises the importance of reporting incidents so patrols can be targeted in problem areas.

"We keep telling everyone. No one does anything," says Mr Cook, in exasperation.

It outlines the challenge for a small team covering such a large area. The number of TSOs doubled a year ago and is set to rise to 25 across the West Midlands. Some areas have similar teams - and others have piloted them - but many places are uncovered, relying on the police. Bus routes can be especially vulnerable.

The anonymous bus driver questions the effectiveness of Transport Safety Officers and urges more support from their employer.

"They [management] know what goes on. Do they care? I don't know. Doesn't feel like it, to be fair."

National Express West Midlands told the BBC that all reports of antisocial behaviour or crime are "fully investigated to ensure perpetrators are held accountable, to identify any learnings, and to provide support for those affected".

It added that antisocial behaviour "will always be a subject we need to keep challenging and working on".

The UK government's recent Bus Services Act allows local authorities to apply for extra powers to deal with issues such as smoking, vaping and fare evasion, the sort of problems TSOs can tackle already on trains.

The legislation also requires bus drivers to receive training in dealing with antisocial behaviour and spotting the signs of harassment and abuse faced by women and girls.

The Department for Transport told the BBC that abuse of passengers and staff is "unacceptable" and pointed to the new powers the Bus Services Act will give to help tackle antisocial behaviour.

Transport for West Midlands promises greater use of drone cameras and AI technology, capable of recognising known troublemakers and even identifying concealed weapons. It recently launched a campaign prioritising the safety of women and girls.

Mr Blakeman insists his team is having a positive impact but says he recognises passenger confidence is fragile.

"I respect why some members of the public wouldn't feel comfortable travelling, but I want them to know that we're actually doing everything we can behind the scenes."

Back on the 72 bus, Mr Clarke is trying to restore Mr Cook's faith. He promises someone will make contact to explain their role and discusses the most efficient way to flag issues.

The West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership is regarded as a model of good practice. And yet, this frosty exchange reveals a clash of perspectives – one that speaks of "intelligence-led tasking" and "visible reassurance"; the other of lone working under the stark reality of sustained abuse and the risk of attack.

Mr Cook sums it up like this: "Two weeks ago I had two windows broken on my bus, I got threatened with a knife - and that's all in a day's work".

Humans are a bit like meerkats when it comes to pairing up, according to a study that examined the monogamous lifestyles of different species.

In our romantic life, we more closely resemble these social, close-knit mongooses than we do our primate cousins, a "league table" of monogamy compiled by scientists suggests.

At 66% monogamous, humans score surprisingly highly, far above chimps and gorillas – and on a par with meerkats.

However, we are by no means the most monogamous creature. Top spot goes to the Californian mouse - rodents that form inseparable, lifelong bonds.

"There is a premier league of monogamy, in which humans sit comfortably, while the vast majority of other mammals take a far more promiscuous approach to mating," said Dr Mark Dyble at the University of Cambridge.

In the animal world, pairing up has its perks, which may be why it has evolved independently in multiple species, including us. Experts have proposed various benefits to so-called social monogamy, where mates match up for at least a breeding season to care for their young and see off rivals.

Dr Dyble examined several human populations throughout history, calculating the proportions of full siblings – where individuals share the same mother and father – compared with half-siblings, individuals who share either a mother or a father, but not both. Similar data was compiled for more than 30 social monogamous and other mammals.

Humans have a monogamy rating of 66% full siblings, ahead of meerkats (60%) but behind beavers (73%).

Meanwhile, our evolutionary cousins fall at the bottom of the table - with mountain gorillas at 6% rating, while chimpanzees come in at just 4% (alongside the dolphin).

In last place is Scotland's Soay sheep, where females mate with multiple males, with 0.6% full siblings. The Californian mouse came top, at 100%.

However, being ranked alongside meerkats and beavers doesn't mean our societies are the same - human society is poles apart.

"Although the rates of full siblings we see in humans are most similar to species like meerkats or beavers, the social system that we see in humans is very different," Dr Dyble told BBC News.

"Most of these species live in colony-like social groups or perhaps live in solitary pairs that go around together. Humans are very different from that. We live in what we call multi-male, multi-female groups, within which we have these monogamous, or pair-bonded, units."

Dr Kit Opie at the University of Bristol, who is not connected with the study, said this is another piece in the puzzle over how human monogamy arose.

"I think this paper gives us a very clear understanding that across time and across space humans are monogamous," he said.

"Our society is much closer to chimps and bonobos – it just happens that we've taken a different route when it comes to mating."

The new study is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences.